


coded fragments

by tsuluio



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Betrayal, Comedy, Explicit Language, Fluff, Fortnite References, Gen, Minecraft references, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Undertale References, Video Game AU, chess stuff, desc of the au is in notes, glitching, internet jokes, reupload cause now i have a Plot, sentient code
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-08 00:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20826443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: No one knows who or where the X-Blood came from. Soulless, cold, and angry, what else is left for the X-Blood to do than destroy the people who made them like this in the first place?





	coded fragments

**Author's Note:**

> all notes for the (slightly memey-turned-angsty) au can be found here:  
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z6ipYDN5bHxz1UZd8kAarN-_rqwzefFCMnQkLJPasYE/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> if you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments. this is purely self indulgent and im only writing this because i think itll b interesting to go through
> 
> also this is a reupload of my previous fic since i finally got my shit together for this fic... another wip to add to the piling multichapters but idk s been a while!! as with p much all my fics this is lowkey a reflection on myself and my personal problems..? ig thats a bad way to put it since i dont go after ppl for revenge but yk. theres some kind of truth to this??? have fun with this au tho cause i had a lot of fun coming up w it :)

A gasp and a thud and blood splatters across the concrete, drops of blue faded in red, and in this lighting, it's impossible to know exactly what color it is. Vintage crouches across the fallen Inkling, hand outstretched. The other never pulled code from Undertale, so their life would be worthless in the end, but the health bars now suspended above the prone figure -- dangerously low, Vintage notes, uninterested -- would do. For now.

"Vintage."

The voice makes him jerk slightly, but he tries to cover it up with a smirk sliding across his face, hand reaching further for the glowing bars of life left of his poor victim as if to see where it would take him.

"Skull." He refuses to make eye contact. "How are you?"

He doesn't mean what he says. Skull himself seems to dismiss the question altogether. "Step away from them."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Laughter. It's not real, but it's the best he can get. "Harsh, for you. Never took you to be the murderer type."

"And I never took you to be one either, but look at you now." Skull gestures to the almost-dead before Vintage. The crouching Inkling can see the shadow of his former friend in the streetlamps above. "Willing to take a defenseless person's life? For what? Omega? Red? Double?"

Vintage hisses and stands. "Don't. Ever. Say. Their. Names. Again."

Skull merely stares at him, face in the shadows and Vintage continues. "You don't deserve to say their names. Never again."

"They broke the law. They tried to kill. They got greedy. It was their own fault. What happened was merely self defense."

Vintage laughs again, the sound raspy, with the touch of insanity. It holds no feeling behind it. "Self defense to strip away their life? Their _soul_? The part of them that gave every reason to live, to kill, to die?"

"It was in counter to what they were doing to others," Skull responds firmly. "You were lucky to avoid punishment."

"Wrong." Vintage faces his old friend fully now, unzipping the front of his jacket to expose a glowing shard of blue washed out in red. "I never escaped the punishment. This is what happened to me, Skull. You were the cause of it. You and the rest of the S4."

Skull's eyes widen slightly and Vintage takes some satisfaction with that. "Is that--"

"My soul, Skull. Or what's left of it. You're stupid to think I'd let my friends dissolve into a mush of brainless code."

"So you split it among you four?' The incredulity in Skull's voice annoys Vintage to no end, for reasons he can't explain.

Vintage turns on his heel, and, rather than answer, reaches down to grasp his victim's health bar. It crackles with red electricity and vanishes, shattering into chunks of code that crumble across the now dead body. The body itself starts to vanish, but Vintage presses the sole of his shoe on one arm and it practically explodes with red code, a whimper and dying scream the last thing ever heard.

Skull starts forward, bones flickering into his hands, but a voice stops him.

"Skull? Vintage?"

Vintage would know Aviator's voice anywhere, but the footsteps that accompany the voice tells him that the sunglasses-wearing Inkling didn't come alone. A decision flashes through his mind and he whirls, gesturing sharply so the concrete beneath them rippled with red energy, slabs jutting from the ground and warping around them, squeezing tightly. The other members of Purple Team weren't expecting an attack and it was all they can do to struggle. Skull turns to watch them, eyes now showing fear. Vintage snickers.

"What is it, Skull? You scared to see if they die here? I won't hesitate. Their souls are what I need." As if to prove his point, he stomps on the ground and the concrete tightens its hold around the trio, cries of pain silenced, either out of lack of consciousness or otherwise, Vintage can't bring himself to care.

Skull's grip tightens on the bones in his hands as he turns to face Vintage. "What do you want from us? What do you hope to accomplish here?"

Vintage taps his chin in feigned thought before leaning forward. "The same thing you did to us. Rip your souls out, shatter them to billions of pieces, rob you of the chance to live, is that not what happened to us because of you? I want you to feel the same pain we did, restore what was rightfully ours, and deprive you of whatever you thought you could get."

Skull merely stares at him.

"So in short, what do you think, Skull?" The virus flexes his hand experimentally and smiles widely. The expression is empty, no emotion whatsoever. "I want revenge."

"But why?" The question is pitiful, and they both know it. Vintage offers his opponent a cold glance before shrugging. He opens his hand and the concrete shrivels away, the red previously laced through it now dissipating. Aviator, Paisley, and Stitch drop to the ground, and he can hear their coughs and groans as he walks away, Skull doing nothing to stop him. The broken shard of his soul warms his chest as he zips the jacket back up, concealing it.

"Figure it out, Skull. I just told you, didn't I?"

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated and keep me motivated!! ily all <3


End file.
